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Remembering Ken 10 years on

SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
in All Saints
Yes, it really has been 10 years since we lost our shipmate Ken to pancreatic cancer. To mark the anniversary, a get together has been planned at The Shirkers Rest in Lewisham on 18th May. I don’t have times yet, but watch this space.
https://theshirkersrest.co.uk/

Comments

  • alienfromzogalienfromzog Shipmate
    How? How is it ten years already??

    AFZ

    (What Ken said.)
  • TwangistTwangist Shipmate
    10 years???!!!!
  • LouiseLouise Epiphanies Host
    Won't be able to travel - but with you in spirit - I miss Ken!
  • TwangistTwangist Shipmate
    Could someone post a link to the MW report of his funeral please?
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    Also with you in spirit - I remember hoping to meet Ken at the bar at London WorldCon in 2014, but of course, he died before that happened.
  • Gracious RebelGracious Rebel Shipmate
    I hadn't remembered that it was pancreatic cancer...having just lost my partner to the same thing, that is now hitting me afresh. Can't believe it's 10 years....I was at his funeral, possibly the time I met other Shipmates in person . Things around here are not the same without him.
  • Cheery GardenerCheery Gardener Shipmate
    That's hard @Gracious Rebel , thinking of you. I never knew Ken, but was a lurker and always enjoyed his contribution to threads. He really came across as a caring and ethical person. For some reason his name came to mind yesterday when I was thinking of shipmates who are no longer with us, obviously just coincidence, but timely.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    I don't know whether it's because so much has happened in the interim, but I would have guessed it as longer ago than 10 years.

    This thread reminded me of C.S Lewis's comment about not only missing a friend who had died, but also also missing what that person brought out in other people. In my opinion Ken was someone who was a catalyst for discussion in that way.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    I just missed meeting him, as he was too ill to come to a ship meet I attended shortly before he died. I'll keep an eye on the date and see if I can get there.
  • DafydDafyd Hell Host
    alienfromzog wrote: »
    How? How is it ten years already??

    (What Ken said.)

    Indeed. On both counts.
  • The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
    I came into the Old Ship as a fairly conservative, earnestly believing Christian who clashed with Ken (and a few others) on a regular basis. Ken was never rude, but he never pulled any punches, and while I regularly felt bettered by him, I always knew I was learning by way of his posts. Quite often I felt bruised by the combination of punches from Ken and another shipmate (still with us) who used to have an tongue-out Albert Einstein avatar. :lol: Anyway, Ken was a leading part of a cadre of shipmates who helped me begin to open my mind, and for that I'll always be grateful.
  • busyknitterbusyknitter Shipmate Posts: 3
    Twangist wrote: »
    Could someone post a link to the MW report of his funeral please?

    Here you go

    https://shipoffools.com/mystery-worshipper/the-funeral-of-ken-brown-st-johns-deptford-london/

    Ken's sister reporting for deck-swabbing duties...

    I'm hardly ever on the Ship these days, but I popped into today on a whim and it's so lovely to see that Ken is still remembered here. The Ship was incredibly important to Ken.

    I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to the meet in May, but will no doubt be raising a glass of some beverage or other in his memory.

  • SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
    Thanks for the link busyknitter - I found myself welling up reading it, even after all these years.

    It would be great if you could make it
  • TwangistTwangist Shipmate
    Yes thank you very much @busyknitter
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    I never met Ken but remember his contributions well, and liked him and them greatly. Thank you for stimulating my memories.

  • AgsAgs Shipmate
    I’m sorry I can’t join you next month, we left South London a few years ago. I had the privilege of meeting Ken a few times and his contribution to The Ship was, of course, immeasurable. Blessings to his family and friends. Memory eternal.
  • busyknitterbusyknitter Shipmate Posts: 3
    This is a long shot, but does anyone happen to have a copy of Ken's rant on "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" (actually there may have been more than one). I've got a wee archive of his writing, but it doesn't include that. And there is something I am doing that it might be useful for. Thanks in advance.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    busyknitter wrote: »
    This is a long shot, but does anyone happen to have a copy of Ken's rant on "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" (actually there may have been more than one).
    And if anyone does, please share it here instead of through a PM, as I think many of us would be interested to see it.

  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    I have not found the rant itself, but this capture from Internet Archive's Wayback Machine indicates that the rant took place in early May of 2002, if that helps anybody. I can't seem to get the Wayback Machine to show me Purg threads from that date, though.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Hedgehog wrote: »
    I have not found the rant itself, but this capture from Internet Archive's Wayback Machine indicates that the rant took place in early May of 2002, if that helps anybody. I can't seem to get the Wayback Machine to show me Purg threads from that date, though.
    I did a little searching and found this post, which also refers to the thread we can’t find. But it does have some info about ken’s thoughts.


  • SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
    For anyone intending to come along, the venue has changed. It’s now at The Shirker’s Rest, 11 Lewisham Way, London, SE14 6PP

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/z6c1iics9wqZr8M58?g_st=ic
  • Marvin the MartianMarvin the Martian Shipmate
    Ten years. Wow.

    It’s a measure of how close a friend I considered Ken to be that I actually cut short being on cricket tour to be at his funeral.

    He and I very rarely saw eye to eye, and frequently clashed on threads here. Especially political ones. And yet from the evening we first met in person there was an affinity, a friendship, that transcended such petty concerns.

    If I can make it to the meet, I will. If it’s not possible for me to make it for the evening, I’m open to meeting earlier in the day if anyone’s around.
  • Gamma GamalielGamma Gamaliel Shipmate
    I met up with Ken for a couple of pints when I was working in London a few days a week. That must have been 2013.

    Good guy.
  • Marvin the MartianMarvin the Martian Shipmate
    So sorry I didn’t manage to make it to this. How did it go?
  • TinaTina Shipmate Posts: 44
    Sorry you couldn't make it, think Spike and I were the only Shippies there. There were tributes, poems and songs, culminating in a rousing chorus of "Jerusalem'. And Ken's daughter gave a superb reading of Ken's legendary Mild Cheddar Rant.
  • DafydDafyd Hell Host
    Sounds great.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    That does sound good. Sorry I didn't make it.
  • Cheery GardenerCheery Gardener Shipmate
    That sounds like a wonderful event!
  • Arleigh 5332Arleigh 5332 Shipmate Posts: 14
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Hedgehog wrote: »
    I have not found the rant itself, but this capture from Internet Archive's Wayback Machine indicates that the rant took place in early May of 2002, if that helps anybody. I can't seem to get the Wayback Machine to show me Purg threads from that date, though.
    I did a little searching and found this post, which also refers to the thread we can’t find. But it does have some info about ken’s thoughts.

    I was so impressed with the following rant from Ken, I transcribed it on an index card, without actually noting the actual name of the hymn, which I'd never heard of.

    Re: suggestion of 2002 for the original thread - I came onboard near Christmas 2003 but the noted date at the end of my transcription may just refer to when I discovered it. (I was fascinated with before-I-joined threads after first discovering the Ship's Nativity Play.)

    So, having finally found the index card: is this the rant you're all talking about?
    A piece of sub-Christian, anti-life, anti-Trinitarian, sentimental Gnosticism written in a snooty, elitist style as a deliberate attack on the Christian Church and its worship.

    It has no place in Christian worship. it only survives because of the nice tune. NO-one listens to the words as they sing them and if they did, they would realise how vile they are. All the viler for not being obviously vile at first glance - it is subtly agnostic rather than bluntly atheist.

    As well as deeply Gnostic.
    Ken. Ship Of Fools. 16/3/04
    And if it isn't, can anyone tell me what other hymn it might be? Because Ken and his supreme way with words ...
  • busyknitterbusyknitter Shipmate Posts: 3
    That's the one!

    Thanks :smiley:
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